By Lori Adelman • @ladelman • 12 years ago

Service Women’s Action Network to launch 11-11-11 website to honor women veterans

What kinds of narratives exist around the experiences of women veterans?

According to the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), not enough. That’s why SWAN announced this week that they will honor women veterans this Veterans Day with the launch of a special website capturing firsthand accounts of women veterans. The site, http://www.womenveteransday.org, houses digital stories of women who have served, and will be updated regularly with more women’s stories.

SWAN is a national human rights organization founded and led by women veterans. According to their mission statement, SWAN’s vision is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without threat of harassment, discrimination, intimidation or assault. SWAN also seeks to reform veterans’ services on a national scale to guarantee equal access to quality health care, benefits and resources for women veterans and their families.

With the launch of their brand new site, SWAN is encouraging supporters of women veterans to share the site and ensure that their stories are a part of our country’s Veterans Day celebration this year. The site’s launch coincides with an important moment in history. With President Obama’s recent announcement for full withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the United States will be welcoming home thousands of women veterans whose reintegration and trauma issues are often unique from their male peers and whose voices are often not heard. It’s for this reason that I welcome this new addition to the online women’s storytelling canon. Do check it out.

You can follow Service Women’s Action Network on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Brooklyn, NY

Lori Adelman started blogging with Feministing in 2008, and now runs partnerships and strategy as a co-Executive Director. She is also the Director of Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, where she promotes meaningful youth engagement in international development efforts, including through running the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. Lori was formerly the Director of Global Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has also worked at the United Nations Foundation on the Secretary-General's flagship Every Woman Every Child initiative, and at the International Women’s Health Coalition and Human Rights Watch. As a leading voice on women’s rights issues, Lori frequently consults, speaks and publishes on feminism, activism and movement-building. A graduate of Harvard University, Lori has been named to The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans in the United States, and to Forbes Magazine‘s list of the “30 Under 30” successful mediamakers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lori Adelman is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Partnerships.

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